A Ten-Year Benchmade and the Price Argument Behind It
A Benchmade 760 posted to r/knifeclub this week came with a ten-year ownership note and an opinion attached: the owner says it is a shame to watch Benchmade fall from grace, arguing that this older knife cost a fraction of what the company now charges MSRP for plastic-handled models, and pointing specifically at the recently released Adira as evidence.
It is a familiar argument, and it deserves to be examined rather than waved through. Benchmade's pricing has risen substantially in real terms over the past decade, and the brand has been transparent that it is positioning itself as a premium maker rather than a value one. At the same time, its catalogue has broadened into collaborations and limited editions with prices that would have been unthinkable for a production knife when the 760 was current. Those two facts together are what generate the complaints, and they are not really about quality.
The counter-argument is that the specification has changed too. Contemporary Benchmades generally use better steel, tighter tolerances and more sophisticated locks than the knives people are nostalgic about, and the company has maintained domestic manufacturing through a period when many peers moved offshore. Whether that justifies the current pricing is a matter of taste, but comparing a 2015 purchase price to a 2026 price without adjusting for steel, inflation and the shift in the market is not a fair test. The more honest complaint is that the value proposition at the entry level has thinned, not that the knives are worse.
What makes threads like this useful is that they force the distinction between a brand getting worse and a brand getting more expensive while getting different. Both can be true. A buyer who wants a plain, well-made American folder is now shopping in a market where that description starts higher than it used to. A buyer who wants the collaborations and the flagship materials has more choice than ever. The 760 owner is not wrong about his own experience, and the replies are not wrong to point out that a decade of material progress costs something.